A hack and slash action adventure, set in a fantasy pixel art environment. Play solo or co-op in this adventure from bottom to top of Castle Hammerwatch. Kill hordes of enemies with varied looks and features through four unique environments with traps, hidden secrets and puzzles.

April 14

Hopefully this new version will fix a lot of issues, but if the old version worked better for you it is still available, just go in to properties on Hammerwatch, go to the Betas tab and select 1.3 in the drop down list.

Misc:

Local multiplayer game saves now show up in the multiplayer load menu instead of the singleplayer load menu

Steam Greenlight

About This Game

A hack and slash action adventure, set in a fantasy pixel art environment. Play solo or co-op in this adventure from bottom to top of Castle Hammerwatch. Kill hordes of enemies with varied looks and features through four unique environments with traps, hidden secrets and puzzles.

Key Features

6 different classes, with unique features and skills

Character development through unlocks and upgrades

Hard, medium and easy of course

Customize difficulty with several different modifiers

Controller support, supports various different gamepads

Multiplayer COOP, for up to four players, online, LAN and local

PC, MAC and Linux support

Mod and editing support, make your own levels and change other things to your liking

Choices with pernicious consequences call for sacrifices to be made from the very start of Hammerwatch. It is a rich blend of HnS and RPG. Superbly it preserves the riot of strategic elements within role playing games while maintaining non-complex arcade-like features of any good hack and slash through making use of basic skill upgrades and combat, loot usage and simple story progression alike (the patch expansion, Temple of the Sun is a bit more story orientated).

Choices must be made, and self-sacrifices be willing.

An openly avid indie game collector and player, my dirty little secret is an obsession with enjoying indie co-op and multiplayer games (online and local). It's dirty and a secret (well, up till now) because I'm a sporadic multiplayer and don't consistently play with other people. Hammerwatch is of a select few which lure me out of the mole hole, blinking against the raging sun. And this is one furious Sol as people will curse you for your mistakes if not careful. Like I have mentioned, sacrifices and choices must be made and other than a secret puzzle in the game, Hammerwatch should not be played reliant on chance (unless you want a quick but painful death). Nothing here is eternal (unless you cheese or cheat for some wild reason). Though Hammerwatch has solid single player, and campaigns can be beaten at a similar difficulty level to that with any number of players in a team (2-4), it's a game which shines when you're fighting off the baddies together. It will also feel less tedious as being all alone in a dungeon can get mighty lonely, long and arduous. Co-op forces you to make choices that directly affect your teammates and may free or crush them. This makes it crucial to comprehend early on the definition of teamwork as you cannot just play as you please with friends and hope they'll clean up after you or that it won't matter as long as you keep eating fruit and meat and hoard lots of gold by cheesing between dungeon entrances (nooooo). You will literally get into altercations with friends if you do not pay attention to what you're doing and why. Gold is divided equally between each player but lives are pooled together. If you waste your lives or gold for selfish reasons your team will die. On the bright side, for such games reliant on skill, efficiency and the cost of your actions, Hammerwatch is relatively forgiving. Had it not been made so forgiving and added procedural level generation and perma death* it undoubtedly would have made a flawless roguelike.

*Note: You can add challenges through the modifiers menu to make it seem similar to a roguelike with perma death at least. Crutches on the other hand aren't needed.

If you enjoy games like the Diablo series and have a fond memory of the more classic action adventure games in The Legend of Zelda series you will thoroughly enjoy Hammerwatch. I play this smashing title with my SO and expect we'll get plenty more hours than we have so far at a measly 15. There are two separate main campaigns and survival/custom modes as well. It is fun to go through the different classes to compare play tactics as they differ for each level and boss. Although my SO is rarely sold on any game I bring up (I play some odd indie games...), the moment I described Hammerwatch as dungeon crawling, he was on it in a heartbeat and never looked back. The mechanics are simple but by the end of a level, both hands will be aching like heck. This arises from the downside of this game where players are often required to press four keys together or in close succession and not much better variation from key binding to relieve this especially for some classes. Though I've only ever tried medium level so far and even on that the last level of the first campaign went a bit crazy because we had to press the bloomin' button, hard mode still sounds like great fun and will definitely be played.

On the subject of balmy levels, the uniformity of blazing energy balls, poisonous spit, spike traps beneath your feet and arrows whizzing past your head every second as well as ever spawning ticks nipping at your ankles and minibosses that don't seem so mini when clumped to excess will frequently lead you to reminisce the non-stop craziness of shoot 'em up games with lasers blazing in all directions trying to kill you. Oh yes, the shooters we'd mastered so cleverly only for being an eight year old too poor to play much else at the arcade... ah no... wait, so deprived of pocket money (from spending it all on crisps?) that we'd honed our own expertise by ever watching the screen of the older children bashing the keys like maniacs with little skill. At least the knowledge will aid us in Hammerwatch while all the bad guys focus all their energy on you, all at once. But soon enough you'll snap back from your nice little stroll down memory lane and WHAM, you'll be dead and your bodily remains will decorate the ground in a pile of fizzled heroic dungeon crawling, like a bomb blew inside you. The death reminds me of how vampires die in the HBO version of True Blood, a neat pile of gore on the floor which is quite adorable in an 8-bit influenced game such as this. The zombie-like skeletons will literally surround you in a tight circle *shivers* if your mind ever drifts and you will be mauled to death and ripped to shreds in the manner of season 5, episode 14 of The Walking Dead (RIP Noah and Aiden). Leaving more popular culture references aside, with everything considered Hammerwatch is delightfully difficult as you progress yet will never make you rage quit because it is merely too entertaining. The secret rooms and Easter eggs will also add to the fun so you can keep your eyes peeled for the walls and buttons as well, and not just kill, kill, KILLL.

Extra Tips for Hammerwatch- Rangers are great to start off and the most versatile against enemies and traps for beginners. Personally I like warlocks as their power increase is much more intense further on, helping make swifter and heavier attacks for large mobs and swarms which more combat based classes just cannot pull off. Obviously this depends on your style of play so test everything in single player. It is also fun to try many different combinations with friends as it will change gameplay extensively.

- If you're an experienced player, start off in co-op rather than flying solo. Proficient as a single player game, but with many games that have an excess of multiplayer excitement, Hammerwatch is such an addictive co-op game that you'll likely prefer it as one if you have someone you'd like to play with. It's easy to get into and forgiving at the beginning so definitely a blast for players to jump in even without knowing a thing.

- Use port forwarding, Hamachi or Tunngle. Hammerwatch has local multiplayer which means you or a friend may need to host a server or you'll need to join someone else's server (hosted by them) unless you're playing alone. This requires port forwarding, which if you can do you probably wouldn't have read this far. It is handy for a lot of fantastic multiplayer games which do not offer online multiplayer. But don't fret if Googling port forwarding and not getting too far hinders your progress in having some fantastic time with friends. I'd suggest trying LogMeIn Hamachi as it is quick and easy for tech dummies (you'll need to download and create an account), and clean and efficient as long as everyone legitimately owns the game and you're not stealing someone else's connection to begin with. Tunngle is also a great option as well as is just sticking to port forwarding.

A hack and slash action adventure, set in a fantasy pixel art environment. With amazing music composed by Two Feathers, plus the Online Multiplayer Co-op Adventure, this game hands down is one of my favorite pixelated dungeon crawlers to date! IMPORTANT: This is more of a informational review that won't be going into the game-play.There are now two campaigns that you can play-through in this game.Castle HammerWatch: The first and original campaign. Recommended to playthrough at least once before moving on to other campaignsTemple of the Sun: The second campaign or Expansion campaign made by the HammerWatch developers. With lots of new mechanics compared to the first one.

There are 3 different difficalty settings. Easy/Easier: Enemies do less damage and die easier.Medium: Standard difficulty.Hard: Only for very skilled players.

There are now currently 6 Very unique classes all that play an important role. There is the Paladin, a melee fighter with good mobility and high defense. Wizard a ranged spell caster with good area of effect damage. Ranger a versatile fighter with long range. Recommendd for new players.Warlock a melee spell caster who can replenish health.Thief a high damage melee fighter with low defense.Priest a ranged spell caster with good defense who can heal.

Like I said all these classes play an important role when playing multiplayer and is recommended not to have more than one of each class, one is enough.

My take on the game:I play Paladin 95% of the time and I am at the best of my game when I play as him, He is a good class to have on your team of adventures. His shield can block projectiles which can be very helpful for your teamates who don't have a shield. As the name says, the Paladin does have a healing ability, some may say that his healing ability is better than the Priest's, but that is another arguement for another day. In general the Paladin is a "Hero" among the other characters and I reccommend that you always have at least one Paladin on your team. But, this is coming from some who almost always play Paladin and this is just my opinion, but remember it's your choice whether or not to have one.

Conclusion:In my opinion I recommend this game to anyone who loves hack and slash action adventure games. It's an amzing game well done. And before you could argue that the price was not worth it because there was only 1 campaign but now there are two to playthrough. If you buy this game, I guarantee you will have a fun time playing it. It's one of the best hack and slash adventure games of all time in my opinion. ;)

I hope you found this review helpful. It took a large amount of time to compile this information for this review.This is Builder signing off.

tl;dr -> Play this with friends and leave them to die when the enemy mobs get too overwhelming. 11/10 great friendship tester.

A very generous friend gifted this to me, and I found a satisfying cooperative multiplayer experience.

If you like old-school dungeon crawlers (arcade-style), light RPG elements, and cooperative action, then you will enjoy this game.

The aesthetics are good - the amount of detail in the levels and character models is decent. The various skill effects are also nice. In fact, there is enough detail in the levels to reward explorers and those with attention-to-detail - there are a large amount of secret areas to find. The music is very good and reminds me of Japanese-RPGs.

The controls are simple and easy to familiarize yourself with. Personally, I prefer using a controller, but the game is perfectly playable with a keyboard & mouse. There is no tutorial, however, information stones will give you enough information whenever a new gameplay element is introduced. The learning curve is minimal to moderate depending on your experience with dungeon crawlers - one of the most difficult parts of the game is being able to effectively micro and dodge enemy attacks (especially since you will encounter endless amounts of mobs throughout the levels). The game plays a lot better if you are playing multiplayer, but singleplayer mode is still a lot of fun.

Gameplay consists of you navigating through (what seems to be) non-randomized levels, killing enemies and picking up many collectibles like gold, keys (bronze, silver, gold), health and mana, and a variety of other things. There are secret rooms that may give level shortcuts, allowing you to bypass a decent section of the map. The game is fairly linear, however, it really rewards exploration. You will encounter merchants that provide mana/health bonuses, combo enhancements (achieve a kill combo to produce numerous effects), new abilities, etc. These merchants will offer you a % discount based on how many shop tokens you have, and many of these are located in secret areas and secondary routes. There are also a number of puzzles and traps, requiring you to manipulate pressure blocks most of the time in different ways.

There are different classes to play, easily warranting multiple playthroughs. This also makes playing with a group lots of fun because watching the different abilities massacring mobs of enemies can be really satisfying. There is some varying degree of difficulty depending on who you choose to play as. For example, the thief deals massive melee damage, but is also extremely weak with low health. The warlock (my favorite) has a melee attack that also poisons the target, causing damage over time and a weak explosion upon death. He starts off with a chain lightning ability for clearing mobs.

The variety of shop upgrades offers a bit of strategic diversity. For example, one of the first upgrades is a combo enhancement - so achieving 10 consecutive kills will cause your character to move faster and deal more damage (very short amount of time). You can then upgrade things like health and mana, or you can choose to make your combo timer longer. You can also buy things like bonuses to offence (a rapid-fire nova when you achieve a combo), or a healing buff instead. Upgrades are initially expensive, so exploring a lot will help you upgrade effectively - especially when you find more shop discount tokens.

Overall, the game is a lot of fun - especially if you play with other people. If you are the least bit interested in the dungeon crawling genre, then you must give this a try.

A very fun dungeon hack'n'slash game. Has a variety of classes that you kill monsters, collect small upgrades and money to purchase even more fun stuff! Play both solo or multiplayer either way its hours of fun.

Hammerwatch, for some reason, is one of the most fun and awesome games on Steam. It's very clear from the start that it pays homage to many games (in the form of easter eggs, too), including old classic arcade style games such as Gauntlet. Alone or with friends, it's a game like no other!

From the start, it's a delight for the senses. The graphics have a retro yet "modern" look to them, featuring dynamic shadows and ambient occulsion that have absolutely every right to be there to enhance the crispy pixel visuals. The music, oh lord the music, is some of the greatest music I ever heard in a game. I don't know why it's so good, but "Two Feathers" is a brilliant composer and makes some of the best "epic retro game orchestral pop" music I've ever heard. Rolls off of the tongue, right?

The gameplay is a button mash fest. A very fun one! There is very little delay between attacks or abilities, making button mashing your way through hordes of enemies or pesky loot hiding crates an absolute dream! It's not even an easy game in the slightest, positioning and ability usage play a key role in your survival. Otherwise, you are going to get wrecked in this difficult game filled to the brim with monster hordes! When you aren't throwing yourself into a massive army of creatures, you will find tons of secrets, upgrade your abilities with money, and stumble upon a brilliant game design decision: Tease the player with loot that they can clearly see on screen but can't reach! All of this in huge, sprawling levels that might take hours to finish!

Hammerwatch is just a breathtaking little game. I swear to god that this is one of the best indie games of all time!